DIVORCE
by KattyTime
Summary: Miriam has had is with Bob's laziness and lack of respect. She and Helga are out to make it on their own and grow closer as mother and daughter. Can they undo years worth of damages, or are they too far gone to ever be close? Denial. Investment. Venting. Objections. Conclusion. Epilogue.
1. Denial

I own nothing.

D is for denial.

Helga had heard the word divorce so many times before. It had always just been a hallow threat, something her mom or dad would say to get the other to stop which ever bad "habit" they had started again. Miriam had been dependent on the bottle for years, but for once she was herself again. She walked in with her eyes no longer blood shot.

Under her arm was a stack of papers. She headed straight in the living room where Bob sat with a beer in one hand and the remote in the other.

"Here." She said dumping them on to the lap of her husband.

"What this?" He said only half interested as his attention was already starting to go back to the football game.

Miriam took a step to her left and blocked his view.

"Hey! Move it. I'm missing the game." He said lifting the beer can.

"They are divorce papers." Miriam said.

"Now why would you go and get a thing like that?" Bob said trying to angle his head around her body to get a better view of the screen. Miriam step in front of the middle of the tv and put her arms out.

"Because I want a divorce. I can't keep spending every day drunk or passed out on the couch. B, I need to be free." Miriam said.

"That's nice honey." Bob said as he managed to see the tv from a nearby mirror.

"I'm taking Helga with me to a near by hotel. Good bye B." Miriam said holding back tears.

"Oh, okay. Do me a favor get some more beers while you're out, would ya?" He said. He hadn't heard a word she said, or maybe he had. That was denial for you. He wasn't going to accept that fate. After all she couldn't be serious, could she?


	2. Ignorance

Sorry! My computer was very broken. Now I have a new one.

I is for ignorance.

Big Bob Pataki had always gotten what he wanted. He didn't know he could lose it all in a day. He didn't know that his wife would want full custody. He didn't know that Helga would agree with her. He didn't know that by supporting him and loving him that his wife owned after of everything. She said should would give up the house for Helga. Why did she even want Helga? Olga was his baby girl, and she was in tears.

"Mommy. Daddy. How could you?" Olga screamed as she locked herself into her room. He didn't know that she would be upset. He didn't know how much he didn't know.

He didn't know that Arnold had already given them a place to live. Miriam had gotten a job at the local bar. After all those years of making drinks, she had gotten pretty could at it. After all she didn't know how hard it would be to ignore the temptation of her old life. They didn't know anything about being individuals. Ignorance is not knowing something. Stupidity is ignoring what you already know.


	3. Void

V is for void.

Five boxes now sat next to the doorway. All that was left of his happy family. He shouldn't have looked. He knew that, but something inside him needed to see those happy memories again. Wedding pictures littered the first box. They were so young, so hopeful. Miriam was smiling. It was the happiest day of their lives at that point.

He pulled over the next box. Olga's baby box. A lock of hair, rattle, a few scribbles, and a card. He found some pride in that box. The net two were of Olga's grade school years and teenage years. As he riffled through the good parts of his life, he tried desperately to ignore the last box.

Helga's life. A few poems that she had given her mother, some pictures, a ribbon pack with ever color in it except the pink one. He sighed. Why did she even love that pink one so much?

Bob pulled out every good memory he could find, but none of them stopped that emptiness he felt inside. None of it made up for losing them. He crammed everything into the boxes.

Miriam would be there any minute to take them away. She'd always taken pictures. Even when she was on the bottle, she still had a camera in hand. He smiled, then felt a small tear roll down his cheek. That was all over now. She would be happy without him. All he was left with was memories and a void the size of his once abandoned heart.


	4. Obsession

Obsession

Obsession is a demon that hides in our everyday lives. The what ifs of a never ending series of what ifs. The doors we never bothered to open but now can't stop imagining what's on the other side. Obsession is what led to Helga building her shrine to Arnold, and her father building one to Miriam. Her wedding dress was hung in the middle of the closet. The veil was wrapped around the coat hanger. Candles sat around the closet. Her pictures sat between the veil and dress on the coat hanger, each wall, and on the ceiling. The man had gone just as mad as his daughter. He laid a bottle of one of her favorite smoothies in the floor and closed the door. His back hit the door. He slid down and buried his head in his knees. The next day he cleared out the closet. He put everything in a shoe box. The taped the box shut and put it under his bed. He put her dress in the back of the closet. Some people are obsessed with keeping everything the same some are obsessed with moving on. That is how a for sale sign appeared in front of her once hated childhood home. Time passed, and it was sold.

Miriam and Helga one again walked the halls. The boxes that left the house nearly two years before now sat in the hall. Helga held Arnold's hand as she stood in front of her bedroom door. She didn't turn the knob. She didn't want to see that pink wall paper or her window that connected to the tree. So she did the only thing she could. She ran. Past her mother. Past her house. Past everything.


End file.
